A youthful testing ground for the later, greater operas such as The Marriage of Figaro, La Finta Giardiniera trades in misunderstandings and disguises, with a mixture of the blithe and the dramatic.

"Harnoncourt, 76, brings a lifetime of revolutionary musical thought to the neglected work. The strings utter each note like a different word in a witty sentence, the winds sigh or taunt, the horns flare up in brassy rage. And the vocal lines blossom above, never swamped."—Bloomberg

"Moretti's well-prepared staging defines characters and relationships with a genuine sense of style…. It's more than capably sung and acted, with Eva Mei visually and vocally memorable as the Countess disguised as a gardener, Rudolf Schasching supplying amiable buffoonery as the amorous mayor Don Anchise, and Julia Kleiter enjoying herself as the mayor's spiky, unruly servant, Serpetta. Visually the show provides good fun … [with] smart new villa set and fashion-conscious contemporary costumes. Harnoncourt, working with the well-appointed Zurich Opera's own in-house period-instrument orchestra, brings flair and insight."—BBC Music